LONDON — Going to the doctor can seem tedious as a child and even as a teen, but it might surprise you to find out how long it really takes people to actually start taking their health seriously. According to a survey of 2,000 adults in the United Kingdom, people don’t start seriously monitoring their health until the age of 38 — and often only after some sort of health scare.
The study found starting to experience new aches and pains or reaching a milestone birthday were also among the triggers that encouraged them to take better care of themselves. Others were prompted to take action after a loved one passed away or experienced a health issue.
Celebrities also play a part in making people take notice of their health, with around one in 30 admitting a famous person suffering a medical problem shocked them into taking things more seriously. Following the announcement that King Charles is undergoing treatment for an enlarged prostate, the U.K. National Health Service’s webpage about the condition received 11 times more visits than the previous day — resulting in one person visiting the site every five seconds.
“It can be very easy to disregard your health – particularly when you are young or you feel that everything is OK,” says Dr. Elizabeth Rogers, the associate clinical director at UK’s Bupa Health Clinics, in a statement.
“No one wants to think that there might be something wrong, but often the early signs of an issue are not obvious. Sometimes it can take a bit of a wake-up call before you start taking your health more seriously, whether that is falling ill yourself or seeing a loved one or even a well-known person experience an issue.”
The study also found that 11 percent of adults admit they still don’t take their health very seriously. Nearly half (45%) didn’t take much notice at a younger age as they felt broadly fine, while 36 percent simply felt they were too young to need to worry about it, and 25 percent felt that nothing bad would happen to them.
In hindsight, 84 percent feel they took their health for granted when they were younger, and 39 percent regret not taking more care of their health before they reached their mid-twenties. Nearly four in 10 (38%) admitted their younger years saw them follow a poor diet, while 30 percent claimed they drank too much alcohol, and 28 percent felt they let stress get to them too much.
However, 30 percent have been asked by someone else to take more care of their health, including their partner (39%), a parent (33%), or a medical professional (30%). As a result, 45 percent now try to get enough sleep, 43 percent drink more water, and 34 percent try to reduce stress to look after their health.
The study, carried out by OnePoll, also found that 21 percent are currently unhappy with the state of their physical health, while 32 percent aren’t happy with their fitness levels.
“There’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to health, and making even small changes to your exercise regime or diet can make a real difference to both your physical and mental health, as well as helping to prevent future conditions developing,” Dr. Rogers adds.
Top 25 Reasons To Take Your Health Seriously:
- Starting to have aches and pains you didn’t have before
- Feeling physically unfit
- Having a health scare
- Not losing weight as easily as you used to
- Reaching a milestone birthday
- Gaining a lot of weight
- A family member/friend/partner passing away
- Suffering from a mental health issue
- Someone you know having a health scare
- Falling ill more frequently than you used to
- A relative having a health scare
- Becoming a parent
- Taking longer to recover from playing sports or doing exercise
- Having a stressful time at work and wanting to make sure other areas of your life were healthy
- Someone you know dying suddenly
- Wanting to be an active parent
- A friend having an issue/scare
- A feeling that you are catching every bug or illness going round
- Your parents falling ill
- No longer getting away without stretching and warming up properly before exercise
- Reaching the same age as a parent/grandparent who suffered from a health condition
- Losing a lot of weight
- A loved one asking you to
- Reaching the same age your parents were when they had you
- A celebrity or well-known person having an issue/scare or passing away suddenly